A Day at the Farm 05/04/2011

This is a Sweet Pea. Sweet Peas are old-garden favorites. They smell wonderful. I plant the seeds in November so they can get established. They bloom in the spring.

Took the day off to check on the farm. Didn't get to go last weekend. It's so dry. We need rain desperately.

• One of the new sprinkler stations is not working. I will call the landscaper tomorrow to come out and take a look.
  


• Planted some Celebration in Pink Cosmos.
  


• Planted 3 Santa Barbara Mexican Bush Sage and 2 Stampede Salvia in the large bed where the Ruby Crystal Grasses were. The grasses did not come back.



• Planted 2 clumps of Pine Cone Ginger along the Boardwalk next to the others that I planted a few weeks ago. I dug it up at the house in Houston.



• Planted one Swamp Sunflower "Helianthus angustifolius" in the Long Border that my sister gave me.



• Planted 5 Salvia Blepharyophilla in the bed near the house.
  


• Planted one Cassia corymbosa next to pool. We'll see it it survives the winter. I had another type of Cassia last year and it died from the cold. Cassias are the larval food source of Sulphur butterflies. I really want one for that reason, but they seem a little cold tender.



• Watered the plants around the Greenhouse and several of the trees - the Red Buckeyes, the Eve's Necklace, the Desert Willow.
  


• Fertilized some of the roses in the Rose Garden, the Tardiva Hydrangea, one of the Frost Proof Gardenias, and this and that.
  


• Spent several hours pulling up all the poppies that have dried out. I poured seed into a jumbo baggy where I do not want poppies next year, and I dumped the seed onto the ground in places where I want poppies next year. Time consuming effort.



• Worked in the Vegetable Garden for a bit. I staked an eggplant plant, pinched back the tomatoes here and there so they don't get too unruly, pulled up some arugula that was crowding the pepper plants. Looks good in there.
  


• Adjusted sprinklers.
  


• Pulled lots of weeds, but not as many as I would be pulling if we weren't in a drought. That's one good thing about severe drought. The other things is - no mosquitos! None!